When we think about the health of our planet, our thoughts might naturally drift to things like recycling, pollution, and clean energy. But there’s another important aspect of environmental health that often gets overlooked. Believe it or not, the way we produce and consume our food has a massive effect on global climate change. This might sound surprising, but it’s true.
The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization let us know that livestock farming produces around 14.5% of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. Now that’s a pretty big number, right? That’s more global warming gases than every car, train, plane, and boat on the planet.
Our love of burgers, steaks, and other types of meat is having a much bigger impact on our planet than we might think. This doesn’t mean that everyone needs to become a vegetarian or vegan, though. Even small changes in our food choices can make a big difference. For example, choosing chicken instead of beef more often could be a good start.
At the same time, we have to think about wasting less food. The food we waste contributes to around 8% of all global greenhouse gas emissions. And not only is it bad for our planet, but it’s also a big problem for people who don’t have enough to eat.
How about growing our own food instead of always buying it? Having our little vegetable garden can be helpful. It’s healthier, it reduces the demand for highly processed food, and it reduces our carbon footprint.
More sustainable farming methods can also make a big difference. Things like organic farming, agroforestry (which is when farmers grow trees and shrubs along with crops) and things like that. These methods can reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and also improve the quality of the soil where our food grows.
So, as we can see, these are things that we can do and choices that we can make that can help our planet. We just need to work together to make smarter, better choices. It’s not just about living greener, but it’s also about eating greener. Because the health of our planet is strongly connected to the food that we put on our plates.
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